CAIRO, Dec 24, 2006 (AFP) - An Egyptian woman died Sunday after contracting the H5N1 strain of bird flu, bringing to eight the number of people who have died from the virus in Egypt, the World Health Organization said.
"A 30-year-old woman died Sunday as a result of H5N1 virus," said Hassan Bushra, a WHO official in Cairo.
The woman came from a village in the central Nile delta region and was hospitalized earlier this month along with two other family members, Bushra said.
"When she was admitted to the hospital, she denied having any contact with birds, but her condition deteriorated and she was taken on Saturday to a hospital in Cairo," he added.
Two Egyptians from the same area were reported hospitalized after testing positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Egyptian health ministry said Saturday.
Bushra said the deceased woman was among those two cases, and that a third member of the same family had also been hospitalized after testing positive for the deadly strain.
The condition of the other victims was unknown. The official news agency MENA quoted the health ministry as saying they likely contracted the virus from infected birds on their duck farm.
All the birds in the house and in neighboring homes were slaughtered and the area disinfected, MENA said.
The cases brought to 18 the total number of Egyptians infected.
Egypt -- the Arab world's most populous state -- is on a major route for migratory birds. It has seen the third highest number of H5N1 cases after Indonesia and China, according to WHO figures.
H5N1 was first diagnosed in birds in Egypt in February, and the first case in humans was announced on March 18. In its most aggressive form, it has killed more than 150 people worldwide, the WHO has said.
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Health-flu-Egypt
